Warning! Before You hire someone to start Beaver Trapping!

Things you should know BEFORE hiring a company to provide Beaver Trapping services on your property in North Metro Atlanta, Georgia.

“We made a decision as a company to dedicate this beaver trapping website for educational purposes (instead of marketing) to empower the public with the proper information to make informed decisions when hiring a Wildlife Control Operator (WCO) to remove beavers, muskrats & otters from your property, streams, ponds or lakes. We are saddened by the amount of people doing it wrong or illegally – so we decided to take action instead of cleaning up the mess afterwards.”

Ok, so you have some beaver on your North Metro Atlanta property causing lots of damage and you need them to go away. You are NOT alone!

24 Hour BEAVER TRAP CHECK LAW
ALL WCO’s MUST FOLLOW

It is the law in the State of Georgia that any traps set for Beaver have to be checked every 24 hours. This is the most ignored law that we run into all the time. It was the final straw was when we saw an coupon advertised for a Wildlife Trapper who in the ad admitted that they check the traps once a week “or so”. Clearly that is a violation of the law. Our company honors the laws that govern us and it is quite upsetting when others completely, shamelessly, disregard the law. Just in case a trapper tries to LIE about this, below is a picture of the trap check rules and a direct link to the DNR document addressing this topic. (http://www.georgiawildlife.com/node/342)

The daily trap checks should be important to you because of the following reasons:

It’s the law

Humanity to the Beaver or Muskrat trapped to get them out quickly. It is disgusting to hear when a trapper leaves beavers in the traps and only checked them every one or two weeks… Really?

It makes the most out of your beaver trapping dollars when a trapper comes in quick & hard and hits the Beaver before they realize it. If a dead beaver is left in the trap it can educate the others to avoid the traps.

An ineffective trap is losing you money, it needs to be rebaited, more lure added and/or possibly the trap moved.

MISINFORMATION GIVEN BY WILDLIFE CONTROL OPERATORS (WCO)

What do you do with the Beaver when you catch or trap them? Do you relocate them? There is an overlooked law that it is illegal to transport a live beaver. Although it is OVERLOOKED by authorities they know that NO MATTER WHAT in order for us to release any beaver on anyone’s property we have to have written permission from them. Who is their right mind would allow us to bring a beaver on their property knowing it is capable of doing millions of dollars worth of damage. UPDATE: We recently found a property to release Beaver thanks to this website. However, know that if we use cage traps to relocate it is much harder to trap the beaver, hence, it cost you more in trapping dollars.

QUESTIONS TO ASK THE WCO

1) How often do you check the traps? If they say anything other than EVERY SINGLE DAY, move on, they are breaking the law. If they are willing to break the law what else are they willing to do????

2) Does the WCO have a valid “Georgia Nuisance Wildlife Control Permit”? Ask to see a copy of it and confirm that the Technician providing the service is the name on the permit. We are providing an example of one of ours for you to see what it looks like below:

2) To trap Beaver in the State of Georgia out of Season you need a Resident Trapping License issued by the Department of Natural Resources.

2) Do they have General Liability Insurance? Is it valid? Ask for a copy of their “Certificate of Insurance”. Since they are going walking on your property and setting traps there are natural risks involved. Make sure they are insured just in case there are any unexpected issues; minor or catastrophic. They need to be covered for YOUR protection.

3) What do they do with the Beaver after they are dispatched? Do they just lazily leave them behind for you to deal with. Seriously, we’ve seen it.

4) Check out their reviews online with whatever website you feel is credible. Let’s say you are working with, thus far a company named ABC Wildlife. I always run a search for the keywords “ABC Wildlife Reviews” or just “ABC Wildlife (your city name)”. This will give you all kinds of information that will help you to make an informed decision.

5) Never be afraid to ask questions. If the WCO acts annoyed by having to answer the questions… They are not the right company for you. Simply move on to another company. It is a part of our job to explain the process. They should welcome all questions.